Can you make mashed potatoes several hours before dinner, let them sit on the stove mashed with butter and milk, and have them still be tasty later? Would it be better to cook them and let them sit in water unmashed?

Sure can but if kept hot they should be kept at 140 degrees or hotter. Like pp I would suggest keeping them in a crockpot to prevent scorching or drying out if you intend to keep them hot for more than a few minutes.

I didn't have enough time with the crockpot before dinner tonight, so I had to boil the potatoes. I just mashed them with butter and milk and we'll see how they taste in an hour when we eat them.

I did them in the cast iron dutch oven and left them to sit there in order to keep as much heat as possible, and I think I may throw in some more butter and milk right before we eat to get them creamy again. We'll see!

Before holiday dinners, my mom makes most of the food the night before. Just pop it in the fridge, then reheat the next day! The only thing we end up really cooking the day of is rolls and the turkey/ham. She just makes sure to have all the oven racks in, so we can put like 4 pans in there at once to reheat a bunch at once.

How did it go? I have always done mashed potatoes last because they seem best fresh. I wonder if you drained them, kept the potato bits hot and then mashed them? I use a ricer, so mashed potatoes are a labor of love for me.

I drained them, reserved a half cup of the cooking water, and mashed the potatoes with butter, whole milk, and salt. I use a masher because I like a stray chunk here and there. They sat for a little over 90 minutes in a cast iron dutch oven, and then I poured in a splash of whole milk and stirred as hard as I could for about two minutes to try to whip them up.

They turned out pretty well. I personally am a bit snobbish about mashed potatoes and don't like reheated ones, hence the worry, so I was pleasantly surprised.

My sister told me she puts cream cheese in while mashing the potatoes, and then before service she stirs hard for a minute. She claims they are divine with a touch of dill but I have not tasted them, she's never served them to me, and I'm skeptical